Mortgage Applications End 3-Week Winning Streak

Applications for purchase mortgages have ended three straight weeks inrnwhich their volume increased an average of 6 percent.  The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) saidrntoday that those applications dropped by 3 percent on a seasonally adjustedrnbasis during the week ended April 10 and 2 percent on an unadjusted basis.    Theyrndid however remain 7 percent higher than in the same week in 2014.</p

The decline in the purchase component brought MBA’s Market CompositernIndex, a measure of all application activity, down by 2.3 percent on anrnadjusted basis and 2 percent unadjusted compared to the week ended Aprilrn3.  The Refinance Index also declined 2rnpercent but applications for refinancing represented 58 percent of the total,rnup one percentage point from the week before.</p

Refinance Index vs 30 Yr Fixed</p

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Purchase Index vs 30 Yr Fixed</p

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The FHA share of total applicationsrnincreased to 13.5 percent from 13.2 percent the previous week and the VA share rose from 10.7rnpercent to 11.1 percent.  The USDA portionrnof the total was unchanged at 0.8 percent.</p

Mortgage rates were mixed and flat.  The average contract interest rate forrn30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRM) with conforming loan balances ($417,000rnor less) increased by one basis point to 3.87with points increasing to 0.38rnfrom 0.27.  The effective rate increased from thernprevious week.</p

The average rate for 30-year FRM withrnjumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) was 3.84 percent with 0.35 pointrncompared to a rate of 3.81 percent with 0.26 point a week earlier.  The effective rate was also higher. </p

The sole decline during the week was inrnthe contract rate for FHA-backed 30-year FRM which decreased from 3.69 percent to 3.67 percent.  Points increased to 0.23 from 0.18 and the effective rate was unchanged.</p

The average contractrninterest rate for 15-year fixed-raternmortgages increased to 3.16 percentrnfrom 3.15 percent.  Points remained at 0.29 and the effectivernrate increased.  </p

The market share for adjustable raternmortgages (ARMs) declined from 5.5 percent to 5.4 percent for the week. Thernaverage 5/1 ARM interest rate increased to 2.82 percent from 2.76 percent, with points decreasing to 0.40 from 0.45. The effective rate also rose.</p

MBA’s Weekly Mortgage Application Survey,rnwhich has been conducted since 1990, covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.  Respondentsrninclude mortgage bankers,rncommercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes isrnMarch 16, 1990=100 and interestrnrates assume a loan with an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio and points thatrninclude the origination fee.

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